Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making the terms of any draft UK-India free-trade deal subject to a vote by the House of Commons.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is committed to ensuring that Parliament can effectively scrutinise the UK’s trade deals. It is the Government’s view that to give Parliament binding votes over international agreements would fundamentally change the UK’s constitutional settlement and undermine the Government’s flexibility to negotiate deals that best serve the interests of UK businesses, consumers and communities.
The India trade agreement will be subject to pre-ratification scrutiny through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. Furthermore, any legislative changes required to give effect to the agreement will also be scrutinised and passed by Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she intends to appoint a Trade Envoy to Malawi.
Answered by Marcus Fysh
Though there are no plans at present to add Malawi to the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy Programme, the Department for International Trade is constantly reviewing suitable markets to identify where the appointment of a Trade Envoy can be of greatest benefit to the trade and investment aims of the UK.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that cotton produced in Xinjiang province through the forced labour of Uyghur Muslims does not enter the UK supply chain.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government has announced a number of measures to help make sure that no British organisation is complicit, through their supply chains, in the violation of rights and responsibilities occurring in Xinjiang.
The United Kingdom has taken a leading international role in holding China to account for such violations, including helping to secure the support of 43 countries for a joint statement at the UN in October that called on China to allow “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers.”
We are committed to ongoing discussions on cotton and trade related matters at the WTO too, and recognise the importance of reform to the global cotton market, which will benefit the most vulnerable in particular.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has had with (a) US trade representatives and (b) industry bodies on efforts to (i) reach a resolution to the Section 232 dispute with the US and (ii) the removal of the 25 per cent tariff on imported US whiskey.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade has engaged with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, most recently on 12 November, to press for a resolution to the Section 232 tariffs. We have also been engaging with industry bodies, including The Scotch Whisky Association. UK importers are aware that our preference is the full removal of 232 tariffs, in which case the UK’s 25 percent tariff on imported US whiskey will not be required.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with the World Trade Organisation on the development of intellectual property waiver agreements to facilitate the mass production of coronavirus vaccines.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK has engaged regularly in debates at the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council and other international institutions to promote affordable and equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, including in developing countries. As part of this, the UK has encouraged evidence-based discussions between WTO members to find real solutions to the issues at hand within the multilateral intellectual property framework.